There is way more to me than just a life with Cystic Fibrosis, but its a huge part of my life, it affects everything i can do! Somedays i hate CF others i just get on with it! This is my life, my story, the way i deal with CF and the way it affects me! So read with an open mind, don't judge me or feel sorry for me! i'm stronger than you think and i'll keep fighting till the very end!!

Sunday, 17 July 2011

The Skydive!!! :) For Breath of Life's CF Project

I'm two weeks late updating you on the one thing i've probably mentioned in every blog for the last 6 months!! So much has happened, my life has been pretty crazy!! Update my blog has been on every to do list i've written but i've just not got round to it! So this week i plan to update you the whole of my life and there may be a few entries tonight!!

To start the Skydive!!

What an amazing day that was!! When i woke up at 5.45am the sun was already shining and i knew it was going to a beautiful day for the 17 mad volunteers to jump out of a plane!!

They had all message me the night before with there sponsorship totals and we were looking at about £4,200 at the start of the day!! My target was around £3000, if the minimum £400 Sponsorship was raisied by each one and they all took the £230 away for Skydive costs, that would mean a minimum of £170 going to Breath of Life's CF Project!! This would of made £2890! I still have 3 Skydivers jumping on a different date so I knew £3000 was easily achievable!!

I was blown away the next day when I realised including all the gift aid from justgiving sites we were on around £5000 and the total has been getting higher n higher, with people still sponsoring!! To date the total stands at £5988.11 and i'm so excited!!

I was hoping for a follow up and I wanted this article to be about my Skydivers but unfortunately for them, even though i sent photos and quotes the follow up got changed a little as the Sentinel nominated me for a "Charity Champion" Award with the The Sentinel Our Heros Awards. The following article is the small follow up to how much we have raised and about my nomination!!

I am so honored to receive the Nomination and hope that I can do more in the Fundraising line before September when they decide who goes forward to the award ceremony!!

So i want to take this opportunity to Thank each n everyone of my Amazing Skydivers and tell you a little bit about them too!!

So first up was Ash, Mel and Rach!! Overall these 3 raised just over £1000 after paying part towards their skydives. Thanks you xx

Ash, Mel and Rach after their Skydive!!

Rachel Hughes: I have know since I was about 4yrs old, we went Primary School, dancing, swimming together till we were bout 17! I hadn't seen Rach for about 10 years so when she wanted to get involved in Skydive in got us back in touch!!!

Melissa Roberts: I met Mel 18 months ago when I started working at Monsoon, Mel also works at Swynerton Arms Pub and had plenty of punters sponsoring her because they didn't believe she'd actually do it!

Ashley Doyle: I only actually met Ash for first time at Skydive, he friends with Rach, but when he contacted me it seemed it was a small world as he knew my brother too and also one of my other friends with CF Aaron so he was really excited to be getting involved!! Ash gave me this quote for the paper and i'm so sorry it didn't go in for your nan to read, but maybe you can show her my blog instead!!

"It was one of the best things i've ever done, it was such an adrenaline rush free falling and all whilst raising money for a great charity"

The Second lot up were Mike and Jodie.

Mike Haines: I met Mike when we did the Pub Crawl in April, he and Dan tagged along with us girls and helped us raise lots of money. Mike just so happens to be getting married to one of my other friends from when i was 4yrs old, Liz Coventry and they get married in September, i hope they have an amazing day.

Jodie Dean: I have know Jodie since she was about 6, Jodie has CF and was well up for the challenge of jumping out of plane!! Jodie works at the Weathervane Pub at the moment, she is just turned 20 and was very brave doing the Skydive although not sure she'd do it again she loved the experience!

Jodie and Mike raised about £900 between them for the Skydive!! Thank you to you both!!

The next three to take the Plunge were 3 of the 4 Physios,Helen Mc Greary, Sonya Meigh and Greg Bicker! All the Physios paid for the Skydive themselves and the 3 raised £715 for the Charity!! Thank you so much!!

Then was Lynn, Lynn paid for own Skydive too and raised £210 for Breath of Life!

Lynn Fitzpatrick: I met Lynn in Year 9 at School when she joined about group of friends after moving school, after high school we kinda lost touch and she's been teaching English abroad for last few years but now she back teaching in the UK, Skydive was high on her to do list so was great to get back in touch and get her involved!!

The next three i hadn't met till the day of the skydive either!! Danni, Kev and Matt! The 3 of them together raised just over £500 so thank you so much for getting involved.

Dannii Ball: Danni contacted me as she is friends with Rachel Hughes, she is only 17 and goes to Blythe Bridge High which was the High School I went too! Matthew Houston and Kevin Bebbington are friends of Danni.

Then it was finally the turn of my husband and best friend. Steve and Stephanie.

Steve Hughes: Steve is my husband and was my first candidate i roped into doing the Skydive! Steve works for Dream Doors Kitchens, he was quite happy to jump out of plane for me and the project as long as i did all fundraising for him!! Steve got to take over the controls and did lots of tricks in the air, which was great to watch! Hopefully he will be doing it again next years and getting the rest of the boys from Dream Doors involved too!!

Stephanie Shaw-Myatt: Steph my lovely best friend, Steph has just come back from a month travelling in Bali and is a midwife. She loved every minute of the skydive, didn't want to do any tricks, she just wanted to sit back and enjoy the view!

Steph paid for own Skydive and between the two of them have raised over £1000!

The next two up were Giles and Rosie.

Giles Lund: Giles's was the first to reply to my facebook message saying he was up for this challenge, then i think it sunk in, but threw himself into getting sponsorship putting forms everywhere. Giles is married to Stacey who has CF, his work links him with Bet 365 and Stoke City and was able to raise an amazing £1000. Well done and thank you Giles. Giles had his Skydive Videoed, hense the fab photo!!

Rosie Cornie: Rosie is currently our CF Physio at the hospital! She was so excited to be doing the skydive and having watched around 70 people jump that day, flying over us waving on quite silent, Rosie squealed all the way down, happy exciting squeals though, she loved every minute of it!! Rosie paid for her own Skydive and raised £265 for the project.

Thank you Rosie for getting involved and getting the other physio's involved too.

This photo was one of my favourite of the day of the 4 physios!!

Last but not least was Nicola!

Nicola Kane: Nic has CF too and was well up for the Challenge of the Skydive. I hadn't seen Nic for a while so it got us back in touch, Nic and her family came very well prepared for the day with Camping chairs and a picnic!! Nic raised £350!!

So as you can see it was amazing day!! Thank you to everyone who sponsored the skydivers, everyone who came and watched and thank you to my mum and dad for coming along to take lots of photos for me!! Here are a few of the best ones!! xx

My Group Photo was unfortunately taken without 4 of the crew because there always seemed to be a group in the plane!!

You can still sponsor any of the Skydivers by going to the Team page and clicking on one of the Skydivers page!!

2 comments:

Dive next year - I would need to out do the squealing! I am sure someone could come up with something for me to entertain the crowd and instructor Milko. Either that or a new adrelalin packed challenge - Bungee jump, wing walking flight......ohh the ideas are just getting going!